In the winter of ’17 I pruned our orange tree. Most of the cuttings were predominately leaves, but there were a couple of nice straightish branches. As usual I was reluctant to just throw away timber, so I squirreled it away in the shed to dry out a bit.

Our house is built to have air flowing through it to keep it cool, so keeping the front door open is important. I figured I could use the biggest branch to make a door stopper but the gap at the bottom of our front door is pretty hefty; about 3cm. So it required me to put two pieces together to get enough height to properly wedge the door open.

A quick bit of sawing and an overnight gluing and I had my door stop.

It is not perfect, nor exactly what I had in mind when I started, but working with a raw natural material was interesting. Finished with a light sanding and some orange oil it looks fine, and it works a treat.

It’s a door jam, made from orange wood: door marmalade. Get it?

The smaller sticks I have used in the garden to keep some of our tomatoes upright.